Yo! Yeah, you. Fall protection. Stop putting workers in danger! Not only can you rack up significant fines, but someone can suffer serious injury or death because your company is trying to save a buck. We’re not trying to be flip here — falls are the number one cause of death in the construction industry. OSHA is back to business this year, and recently has fined an Oregon painting and roofing contractor $104,000 for repeated violations, mainly in failing to protect workers from fall hazards. Of six citations, five of them were repeat violations.

More Repeat Violations

Further citations included failure to verify in writing that the crew members were trained in fall protection (fourth violation), failure to maintain and process illness and injury documents (second violation), and failure to ensure that an employee operating a staple gun was using adequate eye protection (third violation).

The citations also included a serious violation for not properly installing personal fall arrest system anchors. Specifically, the anchors were secured by an insufficient number of fasteners according to the manufacturer’s installation requirements. This violation was complied with at the time of the inspection.

The final assessment was reduced due to the smaller size of the company but also increased because of the repeat offenses.

“There is absolutely no good reason to violate clear and time-tested fall protection standards that we know are effective at protecting employees against fall hazards,” said Michael Wood, administrator for Oregon OSHA. “To repeatedly fail at implementing those standards serves just one purpose: to increase the risk to workers of serious injury or death.”

The best way to protect your company from OSHA citations and fines is to comply with its safety requirements and protect your workers. OSHA has literature and videos available to help you improve workplace safety and health. And … so does APC. For more information, please tune into the Paint Radio podcast “OSHA Inspections: What You Need to Know.”